This is the class blog for Eng 1102 at GA Tech called "Fiction, Human Rights, and Social Responsibility." The purpose of this blog is to extend our discussion beyond the classroom and to become aware of human rights issues that exist in the world today and how technology has played a role in either solving or aggravating them. Blogs will be a paragraph long (250 words) and students will contribute once every three weeks according to class number. Entries must be posted by Friday midnight.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Torture of Malian detainees

Link to article: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/26/mali-soldiers-torture-detainees-lere
The article I read is about the torture of detainees by soldiers in the Malian army. This torture is different from many other instances of torture because it was not requested or suggested by the state, and because there was little to no interrogation going on, as the detainees were farmers, not militants. The troops were sent as part of an offensive to realm part of Mali from Islamist militants, and they captured the fares on their way back from a market. They were clearly not soldiers, so they were taken only because they were Islamic. They were tortured brutally for over a month.
I think that this instance of yorture is especially heinous because it was clearly only done out of hatred for the prisoners' religious affiliation, not because they were soldiers or because they were believed to have critical information. Even worse, the Malian government has not reacted we'll to these allegations. Upon hearing about the terrible human rights violations which occurred without authorization from the Malian government, they should have immediately taken action, launching an investigation and punishing those responsible for these crimes. However, they have done almost nothing to address the problem. By standing by and allowing its soldiers to torture innocent victims, they are part of the problem. If other Malian soldiers see the lack of accountability after this incident, many more violations like these may start to occur. I think that the international community should step in and pressure the Malian government to take action. Any less would make us a secondary accomplice to atrocities like these.